Vaping of marijuana was reported by 6-7 percent of students in all grades, and the remainder either did not know what they had last vaped (6 percent, 7 percent and 14 percent in grades 12, 10 and 8, respectively) or had vaped some other substance (1 percent or less in each grade). New research, however, claims this is not the case, after finding that most youths use e-cigarettes for the flavor of the vapor, rather than for nicotine. But the finding raises big questions about how US health officials are portraying the threat of e-cigarettes to youths, said Richard Miech, the study’s lead author at the University of MI.
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Dr. Richard Miech, of the Institute for Social Research at the University of MI and co-author of the new study, and colleagues note that there is a common assumption among researchers and policymakers that all youths who use e-cigarettes are inhaling nicotine. Such liquids come in various flavors, and many contain nicotine and other chemicals.
E-cigarettes (electronic cigarettes) are battery-powered devices that heat up liquids, emitting a vapor that the user inhales, or “vapes”.
Though the proposition treats e-cigarettes largely the same as traditional cigarettes, the assumption that the two products represent similar degrees of risk is a broad categorical error.
Michigan’s national survey previous year included 3,800 students who had vaped at some point.
Doctors disagree on the best way to answer patients’ questions about electronic cigarettes, a new study finds. It was the first time the respected annual survey asked what was in the vapor – specifically, they were asked what they inhaled the last time they vaped.
The findings appear in the online journal Tobacco Control.
Miech said he was curious how many kids vaped marijuana.
Between 13 to 20 percent of teens say they choose nicotine, with the highest percentages in older teens.
“Evidence surveyed by Public Health England suggests e-cigarettes are 95 percent safer than traditional combustible cigarettes, which is why the United Kingdom government now recommends promoting their use to improve public health”, the authors write.
Side effects and safety were also the most common topics that doctors raised.
The boom in youth vaping has coincided with steady declines in teen cigarette smoking.
The federal government, as well as most states, restricts sales of electronic cigarettes or vaping products to minors.
Officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have lamented the growing popularity of vaping products, often focusing on nicotine dangers for teens. “Consequently, I would have thought that there would be more teens reporting that they did not know what substances they were vaping”.
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Efforts to ban the sale of vaporizers and e-cigarettes to youth on the grounds that these devices always intrinsically deliver harmful substances may not be supported by scientific studies. CDC also said that additional research is required.
